Yu-Gi-Oh 5DX: Age of The Supreme King
by Zero Slash One
Summary: When both Axel and Zane fail to bring down the Supreme King and snap Jaden back to his senses, who's left to fight the tideless curse of darkness? With a rapidly-dwindling number of allies, Aster and Syrus are hard-pressed just to survive. But with the unstoppable might of the Supreme King attempting to conquer all corners of the twelve dimensions, where do they have left to run?
1. Battle 001: Day of Destiny

**Well, this, as one might imagine, is essentially my own take on a Supreme King AU. **

**Amongst other things, it will feature the Supreme King, as he truly is, a superhuman force of nature, devoted utterly to his own purposes, regardless of what those who obey the sometimes arbitrary dictates of black/white morality have to say about it.**

**As the Space-Time co-ordinates listed below might imply, this story takes place in the same 24-universe multiverse as my other Digimon stories. Despite that, it won't be a true cross-over between the two stories; it might come to feature characters from my concurrent Digimon Fanfic, but that isn't a guarantee, nor will they even be minor characters, should they appear.**

**Without further ado, I bid you fond reading.**

* * *

_Universe 24, Yu-Gi-Oh Timeline 03, 2007, October 17, The Darkness World, Castle of the Supreme King_

The Supreme King sat on his throne, sharply eyeing the invader into his throne room. The dark-skinned teen took firm, brisk steps towards him.

"Supreme King," Axel addressed him sternly.

"You again?" The dark monarch returned wearily, somewhat surprised by his return. The voice was Jaden Yuki's, though the inflection was far too cold and metallic to be human. "I didn't think you'll ever stop running."

"Well, you better think again," Axel glared at him, narrowing his eyes. "I've returned to face you, and finish off what our friend Jim started to do. I'm here to defeat your dark half Jaden!"

"Those are big words, coming from a man who ran away, yelling and screaming like a child!" The Supreme King spat.

"You managed to get under my skin," Axel conceded. "You scared me. You took away all my confidence. I always believed that power was the only thing that mattered; those with more power crush those with less, and you have a lot more power than I do. You beat my friend, and I knew I was next. I was done for-"

"And yet we're face-to-face again," The tyrant cut in. "Do you _wish _to be destroyed?"

"Actually, I'm here to destroy _you_," Axel revealed, pausing minutely. "I'm not afraid anymore. There's more to Dueling than power! I see that now! 'Cuz I got something to fight for! People who look up to me, people who put their trust in me! Their trust makes me strong, so here's how it's gonna work, _your highness_, we're gonna duel, and after I finish wiping the floor with your black heart, your reign over my friend is done!"

"Not quite!" The ruler of darkness countered, darkly amused by his bravado. "Here's how it's gonna work; you'll bow to me, and plead mercy, and I might spare you..."

"Or maybe, you'll accept my challenge, and I'll beat you," Axel retorted. "Only, I have no intention of sparing you. I'll defeat the darkness! And rid the world of your terror!

"You'll pay for your insolence!" The Supreme King proclaimed angrily, though he remained seated. If Axel had desired a reaction, he had most certainly gotten that. With no more to say, both Duellists engaged their Duel Disks.

Axel's gun-themed model needed no time to be readied, while the Supreme King's did, its card-zones spinning rapidly, giving it a superficial similarity to a buzz-saw.

"And I go!" Axel proclaimed, taking a brief look at his drawn card. "I place one card face-down, your move."

"A feeble start," The monarch scoffed, drawing his Dark Fusion card, adding it to his other five. "Allow me to tell you something; care to remember your friend? You should, because he's the one who made this possible!"

"Made what possible, Jaden?" Axel questioned, a hint of fear creeping into his voice. "What did you do to Jim?!"

"If you want to know, I'll gladly tell you," The monarch said, with a cruel smirk. "He was sacrificed, to empower my monsters further! Him and his crocodile!"

Axel's eyes widened. He had believed, or wanted to, that even in his current state of mind, Jaden wouldn't pointlessly sacrifice his friends, but it seemed he was wrong. "I'm sorry to hear that, Jaden, but I'm still going to beat you, no matter what!"

The Supreme King responded with a darkly amused chuckle at his arrogance. Just what enabled Axel to believe that he'll succeed where Jim had failed, he wondered. "But regardless of all that, I believe we were in the middle of a Duel! I'll activate Dark Fusion, allowing me to merge Evil Hero Hurricane and Evil Hero Wildfire together, forming Evil Hero Inferno Wing!"

Before the Supreme King, Axel briefly saw Elemental Hero Avian and Elemental Hero Burstinatrix appear before they were sucked into the fusion vortex. From a spiral of bright blue flames emerged the demonic look-alike of Flame Wingman. [2100/1200]

The very fact that Jaden now used Evil Heroes for his Fusion Summons only served to underline Axel's worst fears. If their Deck was the symbol of a Duellist's soul, well, then, Jaden's might well be corrupted beyond repair, he thought to himself. He simply prayed that it wasn't too late to save Jaden; the fact that his ordinary Evil Heroes didn't look any different than normal gave him some hope.

"Next, I activate the special ability of the other Evil Hero Hurricane in my hand!" The Supreme King proclaimed. "Since I control an Evil Hero, I can reveal Hurricane in my hand to destroy a Spell or Trap on the field!"

"N-no way!" Axel stammered in shock, seeing his set Fire Wall card become ripped to shreds by the tornado that had suddenly formed around it.

"Oh, it's quite possibly," The king contradicted. "Now, Inferno Wing, rid me of this worm! Inferno Barrage!"

Axel heard something behind him, a split-second before he was engulfed in an ocean of cerulean flames. [Axel: 1900 Life Points]

"I'll set two cards face-down, and declare the end of my turn," The Supreme King sneered at him, while his cards materialized in flashes of golden light behind his Inferno Wing.

Axel scowled when the flames had subsided, cursing inwardly, while his mind raced to find a solution to his dilemma. He knew that he couldn't use either of his Blaze Accelerators; if he did, that Evil Hero Hurricane would just destroy them before they could be used.

Even worse, neither Volcanic Slicer or Volcanic Counter had the attack nor defense points to last him a turn against that Evil Hero. He didn't have any ways to fight back, but he refused to abandon Jaden, and let Jim have died in vain.

Then, he glanced briefly at Jaden, seeing the possessed teen tower over him, glaring comtemptuously down his nose at him with those ice-gold eyes, an overpowering sense of fear and despair pouring off him in waves.

In that moment, Axel felt his body give out on him and become numb, his mind paralyzed with dread. Though he had seen many times in his life, visited many places and countries, and even occasionally killed people, everyone he'd ever fought or Duelled against had been certifiably human, whether good or evil. Now, he truly began to question whether Jaden ever truly had been.

He felt true, nauseating fear, for the first time he could remember. In his head, every combat instinct he'd acquired screamed at him to flee as before, from the colossal, world-shaking power before his eyes.

"Well?" The Supreme King's voice called out to him, echoing in his fear-stricken mind. "Didn't you come with some crazed notion to defeat me? Where is your false courage now?"

Overcome with fear, Axel simply placed his Volcanic Slicer for the Supreme King to slaughter, dimly registering his Life-Points being wiped away, savoring the freedom from the fear he gained momentarily.

The monarch smirked, savoring his victory, before his shadowy miasma formed a ceremonial pentagram rune around where Axel had just been. His golden eyes flared as Axel's energies were condensed into a single card.

Though it was still blank, he suspected that the pooled energies of about ten mighty Duellists were sufficient to complete his Evil Hero Supreme Inferno Wing. Looking to his staircase, he noted the presence of three further sacrifices, all lined up.

"I remember you," The monarch commented idly, to the shocked trio. "You're Zane Truesdale, Aster Phoenix and Syrus Truesdale, powerful Duellists. Such power makes you valuable assets, and I could use new followers, to replace those you defeated to come here. Pledge eternal loyalty, and you will live."

The tallest of the three stepped forward, scowling, his simple action speaking louder than words, his Duel Disk and deck ready. "You fool!" The Supreme King snarled as he rose to his full height, which didn't quite match Zane's.

Behind Zane, he noted that Syrus and Aster fled, as befitting of such lowly creatures, he thought with contempt. Both Zane and the monarch were quick to draw their hands.

Zane was pleased to note the presences of all three Cyber Dragons in his hand, along with Polymerization and Power Wall. He simply wished that he would last long enough to make Jaden come to his senses.

In his chest, he felt his heart pound away, almost threatening to burst out of his chest at any moment.

Had Zane been aware of the contents of the Supreme King's hand, he might not have been as confident.

The dark monarch inspected the six cards, Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy, Alternate Dark Calling, Super Polymerization, Evil Blast, Evil Hero Wildfire and Evil Hero Behemoth, his mind racing, processing millions upon millions of thought per second, to determine a suitable punishment for this arrogant human.

"I'll summon Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy, and I'll set a card as well," The possessed Jaden spat at his opponent. "Now depart, coward, lest you wish to face your doom!"

Before the armored ruler appeared now a demonic humanoid in a crouching position, and a brown-backed card adorned with a black dot. [300/600]

Jaden's eyes narrowed before widening, as if he had come to a sudden realization. "Your Cyber Dragons symbolize Yang... Your Cyberdark Dragons symbolize Yin... Serve me, and I shall grant you power beyond your wildest imagination!"

"That won't happen, Jaden!" Zane refused, drawing Limiter Removal. "I already have all the power I need! AND I'LL PROVE IT!" He hollered, sliding a spell into his Duel Disk. "Activate Spell card, Polymerization! With this card, I'll fuse my three Cyber Dragons together, forming my invincible Cyber End Dragon!"

The three serpent-like machines appeared briefly as Zane slid their cards into his Duel Disk's graveyard slot. From a blaze of white light, their merged form emerged into reality, assuming a position around their master. [4000/2800]

"Next, I'll activate Limiter Removal, doubling his attack power!" Zane proclaimed, while Cyber End Dragon's body shone with a golden light, wheezing noises emanating from within as its systems were pushed to their uttermost limits and beyond. [8000/2800]

The Supreme King was far from impressed with his display. "Wasted effort," He scoffed at him. "I'll activate my face-down card, Super Polymerization! With this card, after discarding a card from my hand, I can fuse any monsters on the field. So say goodbye to your Cyber End Dragon!"

"What?" Zane exclaimed as his opponent slid Evil Hero Wildfire into his graveyard. Unable to do anything about it, Zane was forced to watch both Jaden's Prodigy and his own Cyber End Dragon get sucked into the swirling vortex, and with the mighty machine-dragon, his last line of defense.

In their place emerged a being whose appearance was obscured from sight by the large ebon-black cloak it wore, save for the blood-red eyes, in the shape of a sharply-angled triangle, gleaming from within the hood. [1200/2400]

Zane was utterly dumbfounded at the ease of which Jaden had disposed of Cyber End Dragon; even in their second duel, he had only managed to make it a draw. Just how much stronger than him had Jaden become now, he wondered with what he realized to be fear.

"Behold Evil Hero Lord of True Evil," The Supreme King introduced to Zane. "He's not as strong as most other Evil Heroes, but he possesses three very useful powers. I think I'll make use of his first: You have to put a card in your hand back in your deck, while I get to draw a card."

Zane groaned in frustration as he shuffled Power Wall into his deck. The Supreme King, however, drew the most useful card, Consigned Sacrifice.

"Now, unless you have a move to make, I suggest you end your turn," The king chuckled at Zane, amused with his defenseless state.

As Axel had before him, Zane acknowledged that the powergap between himself and Jaden was far too great to be closed, though he was resolved to keep fighting regardless, and declared the end of his turn.

That determination, however, proved ultimately futile; during the Supreme King's turns, Lord of True Evil's second power took away a thousand of Zane's Life Points and gave them to Jaden, while during Zane's turns, the first power did away with whatever Zane drew before it could be used, even if there had been anything to use those cards on.

[The Supreme King: 8000 Life Points] [Zane: 0 Life Points]

With the weaklings dispatched of, the lord of the castle resumed his position in his second throne, to survey the land he had conquered.

* * *

**And we're off to a good start. **

**By 'good start' I mean killing Jim, Shirley, Axel and Zane off. Yeah.  
**

**Next chapter, we'll see the wider-scale repercussions of the Supreme King retaining his power and hold over Jaden. Plus, of course, what Aster and Syrus are up to.**

**As for the 2007 date-mark, it was the closest thing I could think of; GX is set during the vague time 'ten years after the time of Yugi Muto', which I've chosen to interpret as starting in 1996; ample time for nearly every arc, Anime/Manga/Game, of Duel Monsters, as well as covering why people occasionally refer to Seto Kaiba as having been trying to beat Yugi/Yami "for years".**

**As per the suggestion of the Beta-Reader, here's a brief summary of Haou's cards.**

**. . . . .**

**VS Axel**

_**Evil Hero Hurricane**_

_**3/WIND/Fiend/Effect**_

_**1000/1000**_

_**During either player's turn, if you control an "Evil Hero" monster, you can reveal this card in your hand: Destroy 1 Spell/Trap card on the field. If you do this, this card remains revealed in your hand, until the End Phase. Treat this card as "Elemental Hero Avian" for the Fusion Summon of an "Evil Hero" monster.**_

**. . . . .**

**VS Zane**

**_Evil Hero Lord of True Evil_**

**_8/DARK/Fiend/Effect/Fusion_**

**_1200/2400_**

**_"Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy" + 1 Level 6 or higher monster_**  
**_Must be Special Summoned with "Super Polymerization", and cannot be summoned in other ways. Cannot declare an attack. Once per turn, during either player's turn, you can activate one of these effects._**

**_● Your opponent shuffles a card in their hand into their deck, then you draw a card._**  
**_● Your opponent loses 1000 Life-Points, then you gain 1000 Life-Points._**  
**_● All monsters your opponent controls loses 1000 ATK/DEF, then all other monsters you control gains 1000 ATK/DEF._**


	2. Battle 002: Gathering of Legends

**Review Responses**

The Keeper of Worlds) **Let me assure you that I have plans.**

iloveyugiohGX93) **Miss, five**** _separate_ times I have now turned down offers to be a Staff-Member of your C2; pestering me relentlessly will not sway my opinion in this regard.**

Higuchimon) **Hoo boy... A big whopper of a review as usual, eh?**

**1) That's what Haou is, yes. My own interpretation is that the Supreme King is the corrupted version of Haou/Jaden, while Haou is the kid with the grand destiny. Whether that interpretation is right, wrong or nucking futs, it's mine regardless. 'clutches interpretation possessively'.**

**2) Keep in mind that _Evil Hero Inferno Wing_ was itself a card created by the Supreme King, as was _Super Polymerization_; furthermore, his using the regular Elemental Heroes doesn't really make sense, at least not to me, when he uses the corrupted Bladedge and Elemental Hero Fusions.**

*** (addendum) As for the Duel losing 'oomph and importance', it rather did, yes. Though, that was a necessity, in order to continue the Supreme King plotline.**

**3) Well, Supreme King was born/awakened from Jaden getting seriously messed up in the head, so him not being entirely sane is somewhat justified, considering that.**

**4) Jaden/Judai wouldn't, but the Supreme King would. Secondly, who's saying they're running out of cowardice? They might just be leaving Zane to keep him occupied while they go and take down more soldiers of the army.**

**5) What, you ask? We may yet find out the answer, soon.**

**6) That would be a matter of how one interprets the characters involved; however, you're right that showing off on a whim isn't something that the Supreme King would do.**

**7) No such thing as bad concepts, only bad execution; I'll take your suggestions into account.**

* * *

_Astral World & Barian World Interdimensional Intermediate_

Eliphas of the Astral World and Don Thousand of the Barian World were the first to notice the disturbance. What exactly was happening, neither were certain, but a temporal disruption in Earth's dimension threatened to potentially swallow all creation.

There wasn't much that these two omnipotent beings, one of supreme Chaos and one of finest Order, were willing to agree on, save, ultimately, the destruction of the other's World, Astral and Barian, for the simple reason that the underlying existential paradigm of the one were the vilest anathema to the other.

However, that whatever was spreading to engulf Earth's dimension, from decades in that world's past, could not be allowed to spread further, lest it managed to pose a threat to their existences and their purposes, was something that could persuade them to cooperate temporarily.

Mostly however, their collaboration was born from the fact that the time-anomaly was as much a mockery of their respective agendas as it was a synthesis between them.

Like Eliphas, the embodiment of Order, the catastrophe intended, insofar as such a word applied, to completely revise the parts of human history that comprised the twenty-first century and the millennia to follow, essentially imposing a new order on the universe.

Like Don Thousand, the embodiment of Chaos, the catastrophe threated to completely revise the current timeline; he approved of the tumultous changes to reality, though not the stillness that would follow once the 'time-storm' quieted down.

In the current timeline, Jaden Yuki faced off against Yugi Muto as his Graduation Duel, before embarking on a world-wide journey to aid humanity, eventually facing off against the time traveler Paradox, side-by-side with the Signer, Yusei Fudo, and the host of the Egyptian pharaoh Atem, Yugi Muto.

In the current timeline, Yusei Fudo constructed his own Duel Runner to replace the one stolen by his foster brother, Jack Atlas, with the intent of leaving the slums of Satellite and reclaim his Stardust Dragon card. Along the way, he would come to learn that he was one of the fabled Signers, and defend New Domino City from a multitude of threats, both from the ancient past and the far future, aided by his fellow Signers.

In the current timeline, Yuma Tsukumo's adventure began when he encountered the amnesiac ghost Astral, which quickly sent him and the rest of the Numbers Club on a journey to collect all one-hundred Numbers, unravel the mysteries behind them and restore Astral's memories.

In the new timeline, it was less than certain that these events would come to pass, or that the key players in these events would even be born in time to take their part in them.

Moreover, both agreed that history had to remain intact; that solar system was too deeply entrenched in the Interdimensional War. Were it to suddenly be altered or even removed from history, the potential paradox could rip the entire universe apart, both the currently-formed one and the slowly-coalescing one, and possibly even both the Astral and Barian Worlds as well.

For that exact reason, they had gathered and dispatched the Numbers Club members to the point in time where the strong Duellists were already gathering: The Dominion of The Beasts.

...

...

...

Several decades before, in a dimension outside physical space, a different power took note of the temporal disruption. Due to its greater proximity, it felt acutely what was transpiring as space and time itself came unraveled and re-knit into an altogether different shape. Unlike Eliphas and Don Thousand who only saw danger and potential doom, however, this mighty beast eyed an opportunity to increase its own power.

The principles behind the plan were simple; Using the waves of time's lifeblood emanating from the celestial wound, it plotted to use the time-distortion to create an entire alternate timeline, containing another version of itself, and absorb its counterpart's energies. Regardless of which version of it prevailed, its power would grow exponentially with each absorption and rupture.

What had it to lose, the Crimson Dragon thought. It existed long before the affected parts of human history, and even if the disruptions were to somehow reach backwards in time as well as forward, it could simply use its newfound power to stabilize history, or even rewrite it to be what it preferred.

After twelve such siphonings, its powersource, appearing like a black hole singularity when viewed from the three dimensions of space that humanity occupied, degenerated, partially from the restructuring of space-time and partially from a different entity utilizing the same method to attain omnipotence.

In that moment, if Earth's astronomers were to have been watching, they might have seen the faintest glimpse of an incredible celestial event, namely the utter disintegration of a pair of spiral-galaxies dozens of billions of light-years away, both devoured whole by uncontrollable forces that transcended both science and sorcery.

One of these galaxies had contained the manifestation of the Dragon Star, while the other had contained the wave of Light. Though both entities had survived, they had lost a vast portion of their acquired might.

Then, the Crimson Dragon decided to aid in the war effort against this new enemy. Outside Yusei's garage, the six Signers, its chosen, saw a familiar and horrible sight, while the vast form of the godly dragon circled.

As all the general populace of Neo Domino saw was an unfamiliar blood-red snake-like creature far too large to be a Duel Monster, while their city crumbled underneath soot-black skies, one could hardly fault the men, women and children of the city for thinking that it was responsible for the unfolding carnage.

As Yusei had been once before, when Paradox tried to alter history, the Crimson Dragon flew with its six charges across time itself, leaving behind a crumbling world and the billions that were about to die, possibly never to be reborn.

After a span of time too transient for human consciousness to process even dimly, the owners of the Signer Dragons emerged into a place far above the ground, floating beneath the clouds. Of the group, only Luna recognized it as the Spirit World.

Around them, they saw familiar faces; Yugi Muto and another, almost identical individual that they surmised to be the nameless pharaoh, along with a brown-haired woman _(or so Leo thought), _the unmistakable Joey Wheeler, another two brown-haired individuals, and what seemed to be a teenage-girl with white hair.

Inwardly, both Leo and Luna squealed in fanboyish and fangirlish glee respectively at the sight of all these legendary Duellists, the 'Duel Monsters Gang' as they had been referred in their history books, the first Duelling Team before there were Duelling Teams gathered in one place.

Luna wished with all her heart that she wasn't seeing things; seeing Yugi Muto, alive, after the Zero Reverse, was every duellist's dream!

On the far side of the nearby castle, from a flash of faint light, appeared the Numbers Club members, or some of them at least; present from that era in time were Yuma Tsukumo, and the ghostly Duellist, Astral, along with Tori Meadows, Bronk Stone, Cathy Katherine and Anna Kaboom.

"Any idea where we are, anyone?" Bronk inquired to the group, briefly scanning the area for prospective enemies or threats; being transported to unfamiliar places by unknown forces or beings was rarely a good omen, after all. "I remember bright lights, and now I'm here..."

"This is the Dominion of The Beasts," An unfamiliar female voice answered him, before anyone could.

Behind him, the others saw the sudden appearance of a _(Tori noted objectively) _well-endowed red-eyed blonde in a dark-colored attire, who several of them recognized well.

"It's Gagaga Girl!" Yuma exclaimed, surprised to see one of his best cards appear from thin air. Much less, he understood how she could be talking to him, or what the 'Dominion of The Beasts' was, though the name felt strangely familiar to him. The origin of the name eluded him, however.

The group spun to see that Yuma was correct; it was indeed that sorceress of his who had told him where they were.

"Um, okay," Tori answered slowly. "And, _what_ is the 'Dominion of The Beasts'?"

The group looked curiously at the crimson-eyed witch, who hesitated to provide an answer, which, her smug grin left no question about, was simply to annoy them.

Suddenly, she began snickering wildly, as though someone had made a joke, despite that no-one had. "Okay, okay," She laughed. "The Dominion of The Beasts is one of the twelve dimensions, among which your world is another. Does that help?"

"Yeah," Anna snorted. "So, why're we here?"

"Because you're needed," Gagaga Girl answered, cryptically. Then, she frowned when Yuma's name for her sunk in. "Aaand, by the way? My name's not 'Gagaga Girl', it's Juno."

Astral nodded briefly, mentally filing away the information as being of mild interest and comparable importance, suddenly sensing something, something overwhelmingly intense, that he wasn't quite familiar with.

"Whatsa matter, Astral?" Yuma asked his otherworldly companion.

"Yuma, I sense something else present here," Astral informed him and the others. "Something incredibly powerful; more so than even the Numbers... I take it that we have been called here to fight this creature, Juno?"

"No, that's just the Egyptian God Cards," The sorceress answered disinterestedly, gesturing to another small gathering a good distance away. "Anyway, we should get going; everyone's waiting for us."

Before the group could utter even a syllable or ask what 'Egyptian God Cards' were, they felt something pulling them downwards towards the nearby castle, as though gravity had decided not to ignore them anymore.

Though Bronk and Anna struggled against it, they were dragged down fairly easily, into a large hall of the castle, onto the floor. Around the room were several other people, seemingly having been waiting only for them.

Their guide, if 'Juno' could be called such, now walked briskly towards six others, one of whom the Numbers Club recognized as the Gagaga Magician, though the other five, a pair of magicians in figure-hugging black-leather attires, one male and one female, and three knights adorned in metallic armor.

"Am I seeing things, or does that look like Yugi's Dark Magician Girl?" Joey wondered aloud, pointing at the black-robed blonde sorceress.

"It isn't just you, Joey," The pharaoh agreed. "I see a resemblance as well."

"Now that you have all arrived, we can begin," The older sorceress addressed the nearly-twenty Duellists. Both Yugi and Yami recognized her voice, though her appearance of pale-green skin and deep-raven hair was different than their last encounter, as was her jet-black attire.

"You have all been gathered here from different times, because we need your assistance," The red-plated knight spoke, in a metallic voice that would sooner be associated with a poorly-made voice synthesizer than a human. "Even now, the evil threatening this world and all others continue to grow stronger; before, he relied on his fused monsters to fight, but alas, I fear that this may no longer be the case."

"Fused monsters?" Yugi, Yami and Yusei repeated, faint nervousness audible in their voices, as they associated Fusion Summons with one Duellist in particular.

Yusei noted that while it was improbable for Jaden to somehow be the one they had been sent to fight, the Signer took his absence from the assembly as pointing towards that possibility. What confused him, however, was why Jaden would do this; though he had met the brunet but briefly, he seemed mainly a friendly and heroic sort.

"Are you insinuating that Jaden is behind this?" Yami questioned the knights and sorcerers. Mainly, he didn't know what to think about that; if Jaden really was evil, why had he helped out against Paradox months ago? Then he realized why; whether good or evil, he had equally much to lose from what Paradox was attempting.

The Numbers Club just looked confusedly around, wondering what in all three worlds was going on. From what Astral observed, they had been gathered by these seven knights and magicians, apparently to fight someone called 'Jaden'.

Anna blinked, wondering how grandpa Jaden had anything to do with all this; sure, he'd told her stories about his youthful adventures at Duel Academy, about Shadow Games, Shadow Riders and other dimensions, but she hadn't ever believed that those stories were anything more than just stories.

"That is the case, and yet it is not," The turquoise-armored knight answered emotionlessly, his voice strongly similar to his red-plated brother-in-arms. "Though it be Jaden Yuki's body our foe inhabits, he is an evil and twisted being, warped beyond all recognition by loss, pain and guilt."

Yugi felt saddened at Timaeus' words, while Yami was more worried by this 'loss' the atlantean knight spoke. "What has happened to Jaden?"

The knights and sorcerers shared weary looks, knowing that this particular inquiry was inevitable.

"It is a sad story," The older sorceress spoke, preparing to recount the tale. "It all began sometime before Yugi, the Pharaoh and Yusei first met him, and Duelled against Paradox. During that time, he journeyed into another dimension with his closest friends to locate Jesse Andersen. While he was there, he was forced to watch them die, and we believe he lost his sanity because of it. Now he reigns over that dimension as a cruel tyrant, and has already slaughtered hundreds."

Once she finished the story, a thick silence hung in the air of the chamber, as each of them took in the information. Collectively, they thought that Jaden's actions were nothing if not understandable, if that was true. Not excusable by any means, but understandable regardless.

"It is for this reason we have brought all of you here," The marine-plated knight continued, his voice similar to those of his two allies. "You, Yugi, and you, Pharaoh, defeated the Great Leviathan, saving both our worlds from certain destruction."

"You six, the Signers, defeated the Earthbound Gods and Z-One, protecting your world as well," The red-plated knight spoke. "We implore you to aid us in defending our lands."

"You as well, Zexal and his allies, we ask you as well to fight alongside us," The turquoise-plated knight adressed the gathered Duellists. "Hopefully, with all our combined might, this world and all others can be protected from the Supreme King, as Jaden now calls himself."

"Well, what say you all?" The eldest of the four magicians asked, awaiting their answer. The answer was a near-unanimous agreement to help.

"If you could send us where Jaden is, we'll take care of this," Yami informed the seven.

"Pharaoh, I am afraid that such is not a possibility," Hermos spoke sternly. "We did not bring you all here simply to die in vain against Jaden Yuki; rather, we did so with the intent of training you for that battle."

"Training?" The group, all eighteen of them, echoed in perfect unison, as though they had been conditioned over the course of a life-time to do so.

"Yes. As you are now, you are not strong enough to defeat the Supreme King," Timaeus responded, uncertain of how they might take the revelation. "We have already prepared rooms for you to hone your Duelling skills in," The knight continued, pointing towards a corridor, and began to wander towards it.

Already familiar with the knight, Yugi and Yami followed him. Joey did likewise, followed by the other five. The six Signers shared briefly, wordlessly agreeing that training couldn't prove detrimental; if Jaden, or 'Supreme King', was really as powerful as they made it sound, it would likely come in handy.

The Numbers Club followed suit, all five of them eager to Duel against Yugi Muto and Team 5D's. In particular, Yuma was itching to pit his Numbers against the God Cards and the Dark Magicians. He could barely contain himself with excitement at the prospect of Duelling against _Yugi!_

The corridor was sparsely designed and spacious enough to give them ample leg-room. Before the group were four separate doors with considerable distance between them, each one marked 'Duel Arena 1', 'Duel Arena 2', 'Duel Arena 3' and 'Duel Arena 4' respectively.

"These should suffice for your training," The older of the two male mages addressed them. Suddenly, the door, a large metallic one, opened by itself, revealing a short hallway and an Duel Arena.

Instantly after, Yuma grabbed a firm hold of Yugi's wrist, and bolted with the amethyst-eyed teen in tow, much to the shock of everyone, save the ones who knew Yuma.

"Energetic guy," Joey commented after a few seconds, while Yugi and Yuma walked towards separate ends of the Arena. At that moment, Astral and Yami were having almost exactly the same thoughts and state of mind; namely curiosity as to how their partners would fare when Dueling alone.

Though, both also knew that victory was likely assured. Astral knew whatever this 'Yugi' had in his deck or extra deck, it was no match for all one-hundred Numbers. Yami knew that whatever this 'Yuma' had in his deck, it was no match for the Egyptian God Cards.

"Definitely," Bronk concurred with the blond's assessment of his friend.

Inside, both Duellists prepared for what neither knew might be among the most intense of Duels they had ever partaken in, Yuma readying his Duel-Gazer and Yugi readying his Duel Disk, Yugi drawing six card and Yuma drawing five.

Yugi rejoiced inwardly, seeing Slifer in his hand, along with everything needed for the summoning. Yuma was less jubilant about the contents of his hand, having only the monster, Swordsman of Revealing Light.

"I'll start off by summoning Queen's Knight, in defense mode!" Yugi declared, placing the card on the fourth monster zone of his Duel Disk. Before him, the card appeared quickly, and the swordswoman emerged from a flash of light, quickly taking a crouching position before the teen who had summoned her. [1500/1600]

Yuma stared quizzically, wondering why the special effects of the duel seemed different now, before realizing that he could see the monster with both eyes, not just the one where his Duel-Gazer was positioned.

"Next, I'll place one card face-down, and end my turn," Yugi continued to speak while sliding the card into the second spell/trap zone, oblivious to his opponent's bewilderment.

With a forceful motion, Yuma drew his next card, which he noted to be Toy Knight. He smirked widely, having everything he needed now. "Since I've got no monsters out I can summon Toy Knight!"

Yuma's monster, a short knight-like creature composed of building blocks, appeared to defend him. [200/1200]

"And with my normal Summon, I'll bring out another Toy Knight!" Yuma declared. Beside the first one appeared now a second, identical one. [200/1200]

"Now, I'll activate the effect of Swordsman of Revealing Light in my hand, which lets me summon him by sacrificing both monsters. So come on out!" The red-eyed teen hollered, placing the high-level monster on the middle zone of his Duel-Pad.

Both Toy Knights dissolved into energy. Then, their energies coalesced, forming a large humanoid in deep-blue armor that coated its entire body, a sword of pure energy clenched in its hand. [0/2400]

From the sidelines, Astral noted that move to be of interest; normally, he thought, Yuma would've summoned Number 39 or Number 55 with those Knights, but now he seemed to favor a different strategy. The ghost noted further that it actually was a more tactically sound move than Utopia would have been; the Level 8 monster did not require Overlay Units, while still providing comparable defensive power.

Yuma was positive that this would last a bit until he could bring a Number or replenish his hand a bit. "That's all."

"I draw!" Yugi declared, placing Soul Rope in his hand. "First, I'll summon King's Knight!"

Beside the female warrior appeared a male warrior, sporting a similar design of armor and a prominent beard. [1600/1400]

"With the King and Queen in play, I get to summon Jack's Knight," Yugi explained while searching his deck for the card, placing it beside the other two. In a blaze of light, a third, taller swordsman appeared. [1800/1200]

"Awesome!" Joey and Tristan exclaimed from the sidelines. "Now Yugi's got enough monsters to summon a God!"

"This is gonna be awesome!" Leo grinned widely. Yusei could only agree with him. Briefly, the Signer wished that he'd gotten to see a God Card during the Duel with Paradox, but one couldn't get everything, he knew.

Bronk, Cathy and Anna stared quizzically at the three, wondering what they meant by 'summon a God', though none of them felt like it boded well for Yuma.

"God Card?" Yuma questioned sharply, his tone a mix between excitement, wariness and confusion at the term and the prospect.

"You might see it soon," Yugi answered simply. Yugi declared the end of his turn, and Yuma drew his Gagaga Girl. He sighed mentally in frustration, knowing that the girl alone wasn't very useful in this particular situation.

Still, he thought that having four cards in his hand was better than having three; if Yugi actually summoned his 'God Card', whatever that was, he needed as many cards as he could get, and for that, Swordsman of Revealing Light was perfect, Yuma thought, before declaring the end of his turn.

Yugi smiled when he saw his drawn card, the Dark Magician. "It's time..." Yugi announced solemnly, as a sudden wind seemed to sweep through the arena. Yugi's hair swayed gently as did the edges of his school uniform.

From the sideline, the gang shared a wide grin, spread over multiple faces. At that moment, Joey's face became visibly distorted, to emphasize his chin, while both Tristan and Tea unconsciously imitated the action.

Everyone stared in shock at the blond, wondering whether such a grimace was intended to signal excitement. Though Hermos did not understand human society in any significant capacity, he didn't believe that sneer to be remotely appropriate for any sort of occasion.

Rings of some sort of gas formed around Yugi's three knights, while thunder-clouds formed above them. "By sacrificing all three of my knights, I can now summon a God Card, SLIFER THE SKY DRAGON!"

The three playing card swordsmen now dissolved in various energy-forms, the Queen's Knight becoming a cloud of reddish-pink energy, the King's Knight becoming a cloud of light-blue and dark-blue energy, and the Jack's Knight becoming a cloud of yellow-green energy.

In unison, their energies became shaped like small orbs, and took off into the clouds that had formed above them. Then, the entire Duel-Arena trembled, as though an earth-quake was occurring.

From within the thunder-cloud, golden beams of light shot forth, heralding the rebirth of a timeless beast, possessed of power beyond imagination. Bolts of electrical fury shot down around the Duellist who had invoked the God, and an ear-piercing roar assaulted Yuma, paining him before the godly creature itself could do.

Then, Slifer reared his head, giving the Signers and the Numbers Club a chance to gaze upon divinity itself, before it descended upon the arena, forming a ring around them, glaring disdainfully down at its owner's opponent, giving a jubilant roar to announce its rebirth. [3000/3000]

"Wow..." Leo and Luna whispered upon the sight of the Egyptian God, while everyone else were too awestruck by the God's appearance to speak; both of them had wished to see one in action ever since doing an assignment about Yugi Muto, but they hadn't ever expected to see that.

Yuma grinned at the sight of that thing's attack-points; sure, three-thousand was a big deal, but not for Utopia Ray, and there was no way it could get past his Swordsman.

"Next, I'll activate Card of Sancity, allowing us both to draw until we've six cards in our hands," Yugi explained. Yuma gasped in shock, unable to believe that a hand-buffing card that powerful even existed. But Yugi's Duel-Pad, or Duel-Disk, or whatever he used, hadn't acted up about the card, so it had to be legit, Yuma thought, drawing two Gogogo cards, Aristera and Dexia.

In rapid succession, Yugi drew Beta The Magnet Warrior, Bau The Black Dog Beast, Shadow Guardsmen and Tricky Spell 4, Slifer's strength increasing with each draw. [6000/6000]

Yuma's eyes widened, growing wider than tea-cups, at the sight of that dragon's truly immense amount of attack-point; it wasn't possible that an ordinary card could get that powerful, it just wasn't, Yuma thought heatedly. Sure, if it was a Number, it was, but not for regular monsters.

The other Numbers Club members were equally stunned by the God Card, and by its vast strength. Astral noted that but a few of the Numbers could present a similar attack-power.

"Now, Slifer, wipe out his Swordsman with Thunder Force Attack!" Yugi commanded the God, who readily obeyed, unleashing a vast thunderous blast from its lower maw.

To Yugi's surprise, the swordsman swung his light-blade, creating a translucent barrier to intercept Slifer's attack. To Yuma's surprise, the barrier was overwhelmed as though it hadn't even been there. To Yugi's further surprise, the sword-wielding monster survived the attack. He realized that it was the effect of Yuma's monster; that barrier had taken the brunt of the attack, just enought that the swordsman could survive.

"

"How come Swordsman couldn't negate that attack?" Yuma asked, confusedly. "His ability-"

"It's simple, Yuma," Yugi answered. "Very few cards can affect an Egyptian God, and your monster wasn't one of them."

"Heh, well now it's getting good," Yuma grinned, itching to bring out Utopia and beat that thing. "I can't wait to beat that thing!"

"Give it your best shot," Yugi grinned, eager to see what Yuma had in store. "I'll end my turn."

Yuma grinned widely when he saw his drawn card, Gagaga Magician. With this card, that dragon was about to be knocked out. "Watch this! First, I'll activate Gagagawind!"

On the sidelines, nearly everyone, save the Numbers-club, stared confusedly at Yuma, wondering whether they had heard the card name correctly. Jack thought derisively that 'Gagagawind' wasn't a card name, but the sort of sound one would expect from a baby.

Oblivious to the amused looks his card had elicited, Yuma continued his explanation. "With Gagagawind, I can summon Gagaga Girl, as a Level-four monster!"

A small hurricane formed on Yuma's field, fading to reveal his sorceress. [1000/800]

Back on the Duel Arena, Yuma's next move was interrupted by Slifer's second mouth spitting a thunderous blast on the female spell-caster, destroying it instantly.

"Dude, it's not your turn!" Yuma exclaimed incredulously, shocked to see Yugi's monster attack on his turn. "How can that thing attack?"

"That was Slifer's special ability," Yugi explained. "Whenever you summon a monster, it loses two-thousand attack or defense points, and unless it has power to spare, it's also destroyed."

"S-so that means-!" Yuma realized that most of his low-level monsters would bite the dust because of that ability, before he could use them to summon a Number. He knew that it was nearly impossible to summon a monster now, but he needed to in order to get out a Number that could survive. "Dang... I'll just end my turn..."

Yugi nodded, before drawing and adding The Tricky to his hand. "Next, I'll summon Bau The Black Dog Beast to join Slifer!" He declared, and beside the godly dragon appeared a monstrous black-furred dog that howled and hissed at Yuma. [1800/1200]

Yuma knew that beating Slifer wasn't gonna be easy, but he was unshakably resolved to try regardless.

* * *

**Yep, one further chapter ended, and Yuma staring down an Egyptian God Card. All's well that ends well.**

_**Chapter Notes, detailing matters of potential controversy**_

**1) Yes, I realize full well that Jack's Knight, in the Anime/TCG, has 1900 ATK, rather than 1800. The simple answer is that this version of Yugi's deck was patterned/themed after the R-version, where J-K did have 1800/1200 stats.**

**2) THE CHIIIN!**

**...**

**As per Beta-Reader Suggestion, here's a summary of this chapter's notable cards _(to clarify, this details only OC cards and cards that're so inconceivably convoluted/contradictory in its/their use that no card could have all that text)_**

**. . . . .**

_**Slifer The Sky Dragon**_

_**10/DIVINE/Divine-Beast/Effect**_

_**?/?**_

_**Requires 3 tributes to summon (cannot be set). Cannot change control. This card cannot be destroyed by card effects, except for those of a DIVINE-Attribute monster whose Hierarchy Level is 1. Spell and Trap cards affect this card for one turn only; if this card was Special Summoned from the Graveyard, return it there during the endphase. Negate all monster effects that would affect this card, regardless of its location, other than those of a DIVINE-Attribute monster with a Hierarchy Level of 1 or 2. This card possesses a Hierarchy Level of 2, in addition to its normal Level.**_

_**For each card in your hand, this card gains 1000 ATK/DEF. Whenever your opponent summons a monster, it loses 2000 ATK, if in Attack position or 2000 DEF, if in Defense position; if it's ATK/DEF becames becomes 0: Destroy it.**_


	3. Battle 003: To The Slaughter

**Review Responses**

Darkfrost) **I grasped your meaning initially, though I appreciate you clarifying regardless.**

TheSupremeKingFangirl06) **I intend to do so; likewise, I intend to take it places you will _never _expect. Also, I'm male.**

...

**Yeah, from here, the story's just gonna alternate between what the Supreme King's up to in Ch3 / Ch5 / Ch7 / Ch9 / Ch11 / Ch13, and the Duel Monsters, 5Ds and Zexal gangs training together in ****Ch4 / Ch6 / Ch8 / Ch10 / Ch12 / Ch14.**

******If you're just reading this thing for one of those storylines and loathe the other, well, now you know where to check.**

* * *

_Universe 24, Yu-Gi-Oh Timeline 03, 2007, The Darkness World, Castle of the Supreme King_

From the doorway to his throne-room, the Supreme King watched both Duels that were unfolding.

In front of the staircase, Aster was busy finishing off Guardian Baou, all of Plasma's twenty-seven-hundred attack points brought to bear for the purpose of wiping away a measly eight-hundred Life-Points, and with them, the final Duellist of Death.

In another part of the room, Syrus stood guarding a doorway, taking on any monsters that came along, currently embroiled in a fierce Duel with the Emissaries of Darkness, Gorz and Kaien, landing the finishing strike with what he'd called 'Solidroid Alpha', a card that Jaden's memories didn't show the blue-haired teen to ever have used before.

_"Evidently," _The king mused to himself, amused by their puny efforts. _"These humans are less cowardly than I thought..."_

However, it didn't matter much; whether craven or courageous, the Supreme King mused to himself that they might prove to be suitable replacements for Skull Knight and Chaos Sorcerer.

"Need a hand, Syrus?" Aster offered. Syrus shook his head, preparing to take on Elite Goblin Attack Force. Before he could do so, however, a winged monster appeared and stopped the bespectacled teen.

Behind Aster, another monster appeared. This one was as burly and heavyset as the winged monster was lean and slender. The monsters were the Evil Heroes, Inferno Wing and Lightning Golem, though neither of them recognized the fusions as such.

The Supreme King glanced down his nose at them, eyeing them derisively. In the depths of his soul, he felt a faint, almost imperceptible stirring from Jaden, presumably caused by the presences of his friends, the monarch surmised, deciding to correct it, lest it were to prove debilitating to his psyche.

"Your trespassing in my castle ends here!" The Supreme King proclaimed loudly to the two Duellists. Syrus felt his eyes grow moist, realizing that Zane had to be gone, if the Supreme King was able to be here. "You will surrender your decks, and be taken to a dungeon, until I decide what to do with you."

"Yeah, I don't think so, Jaden," Aster shot back, as his Duel Disk assumed its active state. "Now, _we're_ gonna Duel!"

The monsters disappeared immediately, as though unable to weather the icy-cold tension that had suddenly arisen in the chamber. On the sidelines, Syrus and the Supreme King's armies watched, awaiting his response to the challenge.

The Supreme King glared at Aster as his own Duel Disk was readied for use. In truth, he'd rather wanted to avoid this Duel, as the Destiny-Hero wielder could prove useful as a Duellist of Death, but using Aster to test out his newly-empowered deck on wasn't a waste.

The monarch was quick to draw his starting hand, getting Interplanetary Revenge, Evil Hero Revenge Procedure, Infernal Hound, Evil Hero Behemoth, Evil Hero Malicious Edge and Dark Fusion.

Aster's hand contained a prime line-up of Destiny Heroes; Doom Lord, Defender, Diamond Dude and Dasher, with Drain Time as his only non-monster card.

"First, I shall summon Evil Hero Behemoth, in attack mode!" Haou declared, placing the card onto his Duel Disk's third monster zone.

Before him appeared a creature that in no way looked human. Its head was a red orb and its remaining body was made entirely out of grey-brown stone. [800/2000]

"Jaden, that's Elemental Hero Clayman," Syrus exclaimed in shock at seeing the earth-giant. To his further surprise as well as Haou's, Aster suddenly snickered.

"That's just classic," Aster snorted, amused. "I think I get it now... I actually thought for a second that you were some kind of... heartless demon king who had twisted Jaden's Elemental Heroes into despicable creatures, but I see it now; you're just a cheap imitation of Jaden on a power-trip, with pathetic Evil Hero rip-offs of his cards! I bet you've even got your own Neo-Spacian knock-offs in that deck. That's clever, that's real clever."

"Since I control an Evil Hero, I now Special Summon Infernal Hound from my hand," The Supreme King ignored Aster's speech completely, placing the card on the second monster zone.

From a blaze of white light appeared a wolf-like creature larger than an elephant, giving off a distinct sense of bloodthirst. [2400/1900]

"Next, I will use Behemoth's power, lowering its defense-points and raising its attack-points," He declared, while the mentioned monster suddenly gave off an orange aura, and its stats changed radically, its defense-pointing dropping to zero while its attack-points rose drastically. [2800/0]

Syrus was awestruck by the sight while Aster was less than nonplussed. "Okay, you got me. I have _no _idea what card you took that effect from."

On the sidelines, the soldiers were astonished by the audacity of the challenger. To mock the king in such a blatant way would have earned any of them a death-sentence.

"I'll end my turn like this," The king concluded.

Aster smirked, seeing his drawn card, Plasma. _"Perfect. With this guy, he'll be defenseless." _Aster's smirk dropped at the abrubt realization of what had likely happened to Zane. _"Damn... So this guy killed Zane too... Axel... Jim... Shirley... Alexis... Hassleberry... Chazz... Atticus... You're all dead because of Jaden's obsession with Jesse... I promise I'll avenge you..."_

_"I need a strategy to beat the Supreme King... If I used Doom Lord's effect, I can get rid of that Clayman-wannabe, but then that leaves just his rip-off of Wroughtweiler to attack my Doom Lord... That way, I'll have a turn tops with Defender, which puts me on the back-foot..."_

_"If I use Diamond Dude- No, too risky; none of my spells can destroy monster-cards, and that's two copies of Malicious outta thirty-four cards... You're up first, Doom Lord..."_

His train of thought completed, Aster thought for a second that he could feel a comfortable warmth emanating from the card as he placed it onto his Duel Disk. "I'll summon Destiny Hero - Doom Lord, in defense mode!"

The demonic humanoid appeared instantly, taking a defensive position before his Duellist. [600/800]

"Next, he'll send your Clayman-imitation on a little trip," Aster proclaimed. The fiendish Hero sent a golden-yellow energy-chain at the earth-giant, who disappeared in the blink of an eye, though neither the monarch nor the over-sized wolf batted an eye. "And with this, my turn ends."

On the sidelines, Syrus fretted, worried about Aster; he'd only gotten rid of one monster, leaving another to take out Doom Lord, and there was no guarantee that Jaden wouldn't summon another.

With the same constant scowl, the Supreme King glared only at Aster as he drew his next card, his eyes darting down momentarily to inspect the Super Neo-Spacian of Oceans.

"Next I'll summon Super Neo-Spacian of Oceans," The Supreme King proclaimed, placing the monster in the fifth monster zone.

Before the gargantuan wolf appeared a humanoid, physically sexless dolphin possessed of a muscular build, whose skin was dark-blue on its arms and cream-colored on its stomach, a few blood-colored jewels adorning its chest. [900/1100]

Syrus recognized the monster as the spitting image of Neo-Spacian Marine Dolphin, and chuckled. Aster was totally right; the 'Supreme King' really was just a copycat Duellist, no better than Dimitri had been a few years ago.

"Wow..." Aster commented flatly. "Called it! Seriously, bro, standards; get some. One thing is you making twisted parodies of Jaden's cards, but couldn't you even be bothered to make a decent name? You're not gonna get employed by I2 at this rate."

Once more, Aster's jibes were summarily ignored by the Supreme King. "I will now activate my Neo-Spacian's special ability: By revealing a card in my hand," He paused as an enormous copy of Dark Fusion appeared, floating in the middle of their impromptu Duel field, and faded just as quickly. "I can look at your hand, and get rid of any monster I choose."

Aster cursed inwardly as holographic copies of his four cards appeared, giving that guy a decent view. The monarch inspected the cards and their effects briefly, deciding immediately which card to choose. "I will dispatch Diamond Dude."

Aster scowled, but slid the card into his graveyard regardless. "Now, my Neo-Spacian will kill your other Destiny Hero!"

As the king commanded, the Neo-Spacian swiftly complied, sending a roar of sound-waves at Doom Lord. The air in their path became visibly distorted, and Doom Lord splintered into countless fragments.

Aster groaned in pain, before he felt a humid breath on the back of his neck. A split-second later, he felt the wolf's fangs tear into his stomach. For a second, he screamed in agony, before it ceased.

In his pained state of mind, he didn't register his life-points dropping substantially. [Aster: 1600]

Suddenly, amidst a blaze of misfiring neurons, Aster's mind managed to notice something off about this situation. The Supreme King had shown his 'Dark Fusion' card, so why wouldn't he activate it?

Quickly, he recovered from the attack, giving him clarity to think it through. It couldn't be that he didn't _have _any monsters to fuse, could it, Aster wondered, deeming the possibility more than likely; any Jaden cosplayer worth his salt would use Fusion monsters ASAP.

The more plausible explanation for that, Aster decided, was that this guy didn't have Jaden's drawing skills, and no other 'Evil Heroes'. The other possibility was that 'Supreme King' simply didn't see fit to use a Fusion monster in this sort of Duel, which was nothing short of infuriating; he was a Pro-Duellist, not some rank amateur!

"I shall end my turn now." The brown-haired Duellist stated flatly.

Aster cursed under his breath as he drew his next card. Even though this guy was just a cheap knock-off of Jaden, he was still formidably powerful as a Duellist. He smirked, seeing that he had drawn the exact card he needed to turn this Duel around in his own favor.

"Watch this, whoever you are!" Aster hollered. "I activate the hand-buffing card, Destiny Draw! While it costs is a Destiny Hero in my hand, it gets me two new cards!"

Without hesitation, he placed Dasher in the graveyard zone, and got Graceful Charity and D - Mind. "Next, I'll use D - Mind, bringing out a Destiny Hero from my deck, as long its Level is less than four!"

The spell card appeared on the empty field, and out of it leapt a amply-muscled man with ankle-length red hair, wearing a thong and long boots. As his weapon, he wielded what was perhaps best described as pointed clubs. [800/800]

"Next up, Graceful Charity: It works like Destiny Draw, only I get three cards at the cost of two!" Aster proclaimed, drawing Monster Reborn, Malicious and Disk Commander, sending the two monsters into his graveyard.

"Next up, Monster Reborn calls back Disk Commander!" Beside the stripper-Hero appeared a gray-skinned man that was equally lightly-dressed, though his weapon of choice seemed to be four massively over-sized DVDs. [300/300]

"Now this is where it gets fun: Disk Commander lets me draw two cards more, to celebrate his comeback." Aster explained, grinning widely when he saw D-Force and Dunker.

"Now, by removing Destiny Hero Malicious from my graveyard, I can summon Malicious to my side of the field, giving me the three sacrifices I need to summon Destiny Hero - Plasma!"

The winged humanoid appeared briefly, before all three heroes faded away, and the most powerful Destiny Hero of them all, the ultimate Destiny card, appeared in their place. [1900/600]

"Next, I'll activate D-Force," Aster placed the card atop his deck. "With D-Force on top of my deck, it makes Plasma invincible, to both spells and traps. Not only that, but it also unlocks his hidden power, allowing him to negate all monster effects on your field. All it costs is my draw-phase, but that's a cheap price to pay."

"Next, I'll use his power, absorbing your doggy!" Aster proclaimed. From behind Infernal Hound and the Supreme King, trails of fresh blood flowed through the air, in defiance of gravity, the forces emanating from Plasma's wings sucking in the liquid as they tugged on the wolf-like creature, destroying.

In the leathery hide of the Destiny Hero's wings, the wolf's paws could be seen as it desperately and futilely tried to claw its way out to freedom. Syrus stood in mixed awe and disgust at the sight, as did the entire army.

With the strength of Infernal Hound absorbed into it, Plasma's strength increased substantially. [3100/600]

"Now, Plasma, get rid of that 'Evil' Neo-Spacian, or whatever he calls it! VENGEFUL RAIN!" Aster commanded. The Hero complied, shooting needles of solidified blood on the darkness-corrupted alien.

The Supreme King barely reacted, even though more than half his life-points were wiped in an instant. [Supreme King: 1800]

"Is that the best you can do?" He questioned to Aster. "Now it has been proven that you human Duellists cannot hope to stand against me."

"What?" Aster and Syrus exclaimed in unison, the latter in shock over the statement itself and the former in shock over the fact that he apparently didn't view himself as human despite being in a human body.

The genocidal monarch ignored them, drawing the Evil Hero Infernal Prodigy card, while Evil Hero Behemoth returned to the field. "Aster Phoenix... This Duel ends now! I'll activate the spell card, Interplanetary Revenge!"

Once placed in the third spell/trap of his Disk, the spell card materialized on the field in a larger form. The card image depicted the six Neo-Spacians in their Extent forms, as well as the six Elemental Heroes who shared the respective attributes, all seated around a large table, seemingly engrossed in a debate.

Aster wondered briefly how the Supreme King, with only Jaden's memories as a possible-though-unlikely source of information, had heard about the Knights of the Round Table, to base his made-up card's image on.

"Since my graveyard now contains a Super Neo-Spacian, I can bring forth an Evil Hero from my deck!" The dimension-ruler explained. Aster resisted the urge to comment that once again, his cards failed utterly in the originality department, this time plagiarizing - or to be politically correct; 'taking inspiration' from - E-N Shuffle.

After searching his deck, a monster that perfectly resembled Sparkman appeared on the field. [1600/1400]

Aster rolled his eyes, not really surprised at the sight. Next, he expected the fusion summon with Sparkman-ripoff and Clayman-wannabe to take place; the Supreme King was nothing if not predictable, provided one knew Jaden's Duel style.

"Now, those two monsters will merge together! I activate the spell card, Dark Fusion!" The armor-clad king proclaimed. Behind the two Evil Heroes, a spiral of blue flames appeared, sucking them both in. Neither seemed to put up even the smallest bit of resistance against it.

From the spiral emerged now a monster that both Aster and Syrus initially believed to be Thunder Giant. However, the differing color-scheme and design left no doubt about the fact that it wasn't. [2400/1500]

The monster took its place beside its master, visibly taller than the Supreme King. "I'll set one card face-down, and end my turn."

Aster blinked, confused by that move. 'Jaden' knew that his monster was powerless against Plasma; its attack and defense points were both lower than Plasma's attack-points, and whatever effect it had _(Aster surmised that it involved monster destruction) _was negated by Plasma too.

His mind raced, trying to figure out what he was up to; most likely, he decided, it involved that face-down card, but that wasn't a possibility either, as D-Force kept Plasma safe from Spell and Trap cards.

That led him to consider whether the card could increase attack-points; deeming that the answer, he then debated with himself whether or not to attack.

The part of him arguing in favor of that pointed out that he couldn't afford to refrain from attacking, simply based on speculation. The part of him that argued against it reasoned that it was too risky to attack recklessly.

"You're stalling," The Supreme King noted with amusement, golden orbs glowing. "Are you so frightened that you cannot even make a move? You're as pathetic as the rest of them!"

His train of thought was immediately cut short by the accusation. "Scared of you? No way! And I'll prove it! Plasma, attack his monster with Vengeful Rain!"

The vampiric Destiny Hero complied, as jets of blood hailed down on Lightning Golem. The darkness-wielder barely even seemed to notice as his already-diminished Life-Points dropped even further. [Supreme King: 1100]

"Activate trap card, Evil Hero Revenge Procedure!" The monarch proclaimed. Aster was about to point that traps wouldn't work on Plasma anymore, before he heard the tell-tale sound of his Life-Points changing. He looked down briefly, seeing to his shock that they had dropped to zero!

[Supreme King: 4000] [Aster: 0]

_"No way..." _He thought angrily, while the tell-tale glow of impending death suffused his body. _"_Plasma_ wasn't enough to beat Jaden now? Just what does it take?"_

The king deemed it a waste of good energy to simply let Aster be sent to the stars, and took out the unfinished Supreme Inferno Wing card, absorbing the energies into the card, while the Duel Disk fell to the ground.

From the sidelines, Syrus was utterly shocked by what Jaden was doing. All this had began when Brron had tried to sacrifice him, Hassleberry, Alexis, Chazz and Atticus to create that damn Super Polymerization.

Now, Jaden was doing the exact same thing, all for power, making it clear to the bespectacled teen just how Jaden had truly fallen. In that instant, Syrus' faith in him, already weakened from what had recently happened, was irrevocably shattered.

"Why, Jaden?!" Syrus demanded furiously. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!"

"Leave us," The ruler glared at his armies, who were more than happy to comply, lest he turned his fury on them. Soon, only the Supreme King and anger-consumed human were left in the hallway.

"You ask 'why?'?" The Supreme King stared intensely at the scowling teen. "Do you truly desire to know?"

Angry pale-green eyes met icy-cold golden eyes, both seemingly determined not to blink. Syrus felt his throat dry out, when he saw those golden lights that peered out from underneath his helmet.

They were frigid, like a glacier. They were entirely devoid of any of the qualities that Jaden had exhibited. They displayed nothing but virulent antipathy for him. They pierced into the depths of his soul, seeing everything he wanted to keep hidden.

The more Syrus stared into those gold orbs, the more he came to understand why Axel had come to fear him. In a small part of his mind, he eyed an opportunity to move the plot along.

"Yes..." He answered, slowly, wishing with all his heart that whatever the Supreme King was intending, it would somehow fix everything, the way Jaden hadn't been able to.

"It is all for your sake, Syrus Truesdale," The Supreme King answered sternly, shocking Syrus to his core. "Now that I have located you, you'll stay here forever, until I rule this world completely. Once space and time and life and death and the soul and the body are all under my absolute and eternal command, then, you will be free once more, _truly _free..."

"W-what?!" Syrus gasped in astonishment at the proclamation.

"You heard me, Syrus Truesdale," The Supreme King sneered at him, golden eyes flashing briefly. "I intend to become the god of this world, and once I am, I will bring back all those who have died... Jesse, Jim, Shirley, Aster, Alexis, Chazz, Zane, Atticus... They will all live again, and live forever! Once that is done, Syrus Truesdale, I will ensure their eternal safety, and bring about the end of all other life, the humans, and the Duel Monsters, and the gods, and the devils."

Syrus was breathless, his brain struggling to find the words for such... _insanity! _Was the Supreme King truly going to do all that? "That's... Y-you... You can't..."

"I intend to become able to, Syrus Truesdale," The king broke into his stammering.

* * *

**That's three chapters done.**

**1) I realize that in canon, the Supreme King's motivations never extended further than victory and conquest. Here, I decided to tamper a bit with his long-term plans.**

**2) As for what 'Evil Hero Revenge Procedure' does and how it allowed Supreme King to win in spite Plasma/D-Force, there's a perfect reasonable explanation, which can be inferred from the card name itself.**


End file.
